How cruel is the golden rule
When the lives we lived are only golden plated?
And I knew that the lights of the city were too heavy for me
And though I carry karats for everyone to see

And I saw God cry in the reflection of my enemies
And all the lovers with no time for me
And all of the mothers raise their babies
To stay away from me

Tongues on the sockets of electric dreams
Where the sewage of youth drowned the spark of my teens
And I knew that the lights of the city were too heavy for me
And though I carry karats for everyone to see

And I saw God cry in the reflection of my enemies
And all the lovers with no time for me
And all of the mothers raise their babies
To stay away from me
And pray they don't grow up to be

126 Comments

General CommentFirst of all, it’s not carrots because that would make no sense. It’s karats, like in gold. You have so many gold karats in an earring or a ring.

I think it’s basically about how ‘cruel’ the golden rule is, because no one really takes into consideration if you’re actually following it. Like you could ‘do unto others as you would wish for them to do unto you’ all you want yet it’d only make you ‘golden plated’. Everything just becomes too heavy. I think the chorus is just talking about how no one accepts him because of all of this.
I think the second verse is how time is ruining all of the hopes and dreams he had when he was younger. It kind of applies because they’re talking about disappointments and how the ‘golden rule’ has been misused and destroyed.

I’m guessing there might be an even deeper meaning, but this is what I think of when I listen to this song.

General CommentThis is one of my favorite songs on the album, for sure. A lot of people have said to me that they don't like it, but I think it's amazing. It's full of emotion and passion, and sounds unlike anything they've done before.

General CommentHe carries himself around like he's the shit but he's really got nothing to show for it or back himself up. He's crumbling inside. He wants people to stay away from him, but he wants them to look at him and say, "You're a good person".

I don't really know what the electric dreams/sewage line is supposed to mean, except perhaps they had something stunt their growth into adulthood by starting this band.

Like someone else said about the god line, too, it's like he's looking at himself and his actions from a new perspective, from his enemies' eyes, and seeing how he was wrong.

I am pretty sure the mother line has to do when that one mother sent a letter to their labeling company complaining about Pete saying that people who couldn't be respectful to homosexuals and the like needed to return their merch and leave. The mom was mad that he shared his "political views" with pre-teens and that she didn't pay for her to daughter to hear him cuss with his sailor mouth and give his opinions; that she and her daughter were there to listen to their music and nothing else.

General CommentCORRECT LYRICS:
How cruel is the golden rule
When the lives we lived are only golden plated
And I knew the lights of the city were too heavy for me
Though I carried karats for everyone to see

And I saw God cry in the reflection of my enemies
All all the lovers with no time for me
And all the mothers raise their babies to stay away from me

Tongues on the sockets of electric dreams
When the sewage of youth drowned the spark of my teens
And I knew that the lights of the city were too heavy for me
And I carried karats for everyone to see

And I saw God cry in the reflection of my enemies
All all the lovers with no time for me
And all the mothers raise their babies to stay away from me
And pray they don't grow up to be me

Everyone keeps getting the line 'When the sewage of youth drowned the spark of my teens' wrong. it's teens, not tears.

It also makes much more sense with teens, because that would suggest bullying (sewage of youth) and how it ruined his teen years.

General Comment"How cruel is the golden rule, when the lives we lived are only golden plated"
The Golden Rule states that one has the right to justice, and has the right to ensure justice for others. Therefore, they're saying that justice is cruel and wrongful. As for the second part, their lives were golden plated because they must have been terrible beforehand, which gives them the need to 'golden plate' them.

"And I knew that the lights of the city were too heavy for me"
Even though he knew fame would destroy him, he still went for it.

"Though I carried karats for everyone to see"
And he also knew it would destroy him, no matter how much talent he had to give or show.

"And I saw God cry in the reflection of my enemies"
I see this a little differently than most. I don't think it means God was crying at the reflection of his enemies, rather, he saw God as the reflection, crying. In other words, every one of his enemies (the people that are fame-induced) is a shame in the eyes of God.

"And all the lovers with no time for me"
By lovers, I'm guessing he means potential lovers, who had better things to do than to hook up with a fame-driven musician. (Let it be known, however, that I don't see FOB as fame-driven :P)

"And all of the mothers raise their babies to stay away from me"
I don't think this means literal babies, but more like the poeple around them. Since they don't like to associate with people like that, they don't want anyone else to either.

"Tongues on the sockets of electric dreams"
In other words, dangerous fantasies. If you think about those dreams too much, they could harm you.

"When the sewage of youth drowned the spark of my teens"
It's talking about the electric dreams again. He must've had an overly bad/good experience as a child, which saved him from having/following his 'electric dreams'.

General CommentI absolutely love this song, it is so far from what they usually do, and it is so deep and with fantastic lyrics.

The first verse I think refers to how everyone/himself is living a lie, being fake, only rich on the outside when really they're hiding their true selves and they can't really handle it (lights of the city too heavy), and he carries carots (of gold) for everyone to see that he's made it.

I'd like to think that "and i saw god cry in the reflection of my enemies" is the person having to look through so much, when a person in life doesn't like to look at their enemies, but this person looks at their reflection, and sees god crying... finally seeing that he's doing the wrong thing?

I'd love to know what everyone else thinks of this line because it is the most haunting on the album and I love it to bits.

"Tongues on the sockets of electric dreams, When the sewage of youth drown the spark of my tears" - Trying to get somwhere, make a dream come true through ideas, but with the "sewage" everyone is now throwing out there and the ideals that they are living, these dreams are 'drowned'??